Photo: Rugbyworldcup.com
rugby world cup 2019

Rugby World Cup 2019 general ticket sales set to begin

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Following record demand across the 2018 ticket ballots for Rugby World Cup 2019, first-come-first- served ticket sales are set to begin this week. Ticket sales will take place via a two-stage process with an exclusive opportunity for applicants who were unsuccessful in the 2018 sales ballots commencing on Tuesday and sales to the general public following on Jan 19.

Ticket availability across the tournament remains limited following record sales throughout the 2018 ballots. While there is still reasonable availability for certain pool matches, tickets for the most popular matches remain extremely limited. These include all knockout stage matches and pool matches featuring the host nation Japan, New Zealand, as well as Ireland and England.

Japan Rugby World Cup 2019 Organizing Committee CEO Akira Shimazu said: “With less than 250 days to go before Asia’s first Rugby World Cup kicks off in Japan, it’s incredibly exciting to see the phenomenal response from rugby fans here in Japan and from across the world. The huge demand for tickets points to Rugby World Cup 2019 being a truly special tournament.

“For anybody considering buying tickets for matches that still have availability, I suggest you move as quickly as possible when first-come-first-served sales begin. The huge demand from domestic rugby fans unable to secure tickets for Japan matches will spread quickly to the tournament’s remaining matches. There are still some great tickets available and we want to ensure that we welcome as many foreign fans as possible for this once in a lifetime tournament.”

World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont added: “Rugby World Cup is proving to be the event to attend in 2019 with record ticket applications. The incredible demand for tickets demonstrates that Asia’s first Rugby World Cup has truly captured the imagination of fans around the world. It will be a tournament that has fans and teams at heart, celebrates rugby and Japan and will further the reach and growth of the sport across Asia and around the world.”

With traffic to the Rugby World Cup 2019 ticketing site expected to be extremely heavy during the early stages of the January ticket sales window, fans are requested to be patient while waiting to access the site.

Those unable to secure tickets in the January sales window should be aware that limited quantities of tickets will be periodically made available for sale throughout 2019 as new ticket inventory becomes available. These tickets will be a mixture of seats released from ongoing venue planning and configuration, handbacks from the tournament's commercial program and unions, and tickets that have been registered for official resale by fans who can no longer attend matches. All future ticket sales opportunities will be announced in advance, while further details on the Rugby World Cup 2019 Official Resale site will be provided in March 2019.

Two stage sales process

The two-stage process in the January sales window is designed to give priority to applicants who were unsuccessful in the 2018 ticket sales ballots.

Stage 1: Exclusive sales for unsuccessful ballot applicants begin 20:19 Japan Standard Time Tuesday until 23:59 Thursday.

  • The ticketing site will close for essential maintenance between 01:00 and 05:30 on Wednesday.

Stage 2: General sales begin 10 a.m. Saturday Jan 19 until 23:59 Sunday March 31.

With extremely limited availability for certain matches, fans are encouraged to use the real-time ticket availability indicator on the ticketing website to give themselves the best opportunity to secure Rugby World Cup 2019 tickets.

Another option for fans looking to secure match tickets is through the Rugby World Cup 2019 Official Supporter Tour and Hospitality programs. Ticket-inclusive travel packages provided through RWC 2019 official travel agents are proving extremely popular, with tickets for some of the most popular matches still available. The prestigious Webb Ellis Suite and private hospitality suites are already sold out; however some great matchday hospitality options are still available. Further details can be found via www.rugbyworldcup.com/supportertours and www.rugbyworldcup.com/hospitality.

When purchasing tickets, fans will be able to opt-in and donate to the ChildFund Pass It Back program. In partnership with World Rugby’s Impact Beyond program, Pass It Back inspires positive social change through the delivery of an integrated life-skills and non-contact tag rugby curriculum, educating children and young people in areas of leadership, problem-solving, gender equality, conflict resolution and life preparation. For more details visit www.childfundpassitback.org.

With such exceptional demand for tickets, fans are being urged to buy exclusively from official channels to avoid being let down. For more details, visit www.rugbyworldcup.com/buy-official.

© Rugbyworldcup.com

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

4 Comments
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Tonight's round was another failure by the organizers. By allowing people who had already purchased tickets into the round they frustrated huge numbers of people who still didn't have any. When I logged in 20 mins before time I was already 75,000th in the queue. Other popular ticketing/shopping sites which sell out within minutes truly open it up rather than going through a bizarre queue system. I underestimated Japan's penchant for queuing (still number 10,000 and 40 mins before the site shuts down again).

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Yep. Why are tickets being sold now when I was in the lottery before for the same seats but they weren’t all sold? They had a lottery. The tickets should’ve been ALL sold to those people who applied for those seats. People who didn’t apply before can get tickets now even though there are those of us who applied before and got nothing. How on earth does this make sense?

And it’ll be like when WC soccer was here. Empty seats in inaka places and people won’t know about them.

Organizers messed this up big time.

Abd lets not forget opening the sales time. 20:19. So those Europe are just getting up to get tickets while the rest of us in japan are asleep if/when are turn comes.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So disappointed with the ballot for those of us who tried to exclusively reapply for tickets we didnt get in the last ballot. Qued in at 80000 plus and waited 14hrs and all the tickets we tried to get again were unavailable. It will open to the public when we try again. What a shambles. We have secured a QF2 ticket but none for the SF1 and final. Our beloved Allblacks will be playing and we have followed them all our lives. My husbands last chance to finally go to a RWC and its a real let down for him.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I hear your pain Ange, Missed the ballot last year, queued for 15 hours last night, Credit Card processing didn’t go through and had to queue again for another 5 hours, by then everything was gone but managed to get ABs in Oita, B section only available so ¥45,000 for 2 tix...most money I’ve ever spent on a footy match and it’s only a pool game :( but pretty excited nonetheless...I’ll be wild if I see empty seats at venue I applied for in the ballot...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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